Follow our Books in Development

Menu

The tragedy of the POWs killed at sea

Introduction

Operation CRUSADER saw about 8,500 Commonwealth soldiers become prisoners of the Axis forces, in the fighting around Tobruk and during the counter offensive in January. See this older post for a discussion of losses suffered by each side. This post here is based on research around the internet.

In general, as the old line goes, ‘For you [insert nickname here], the war is over!’. In the case of North Africa, this was however not the case for the Commonwealth POW. In order to secure them and relieve the supply situation in North Africa, beginning in December 41 they were shipped off to Italian-controlled territory, either to Italy or to Greece (and thence to Italy, I guess), either on naval units or on homeward bound merchants (the New Zealand Official History has a good account of the situation of the POW at this link – note that Sebastiano Venier is called Jantzen in this account). This could be dangerous, since POW transports were not marked, and since even if ULTRA had given warning to the Royal Navy that a particular transport carried POW, it was likely impossible to warn the submarine commander without risking a breach in the ULTRA secret (e.g. if the submarine commander were to be taken POW himself, and informed his captors about the warning he was given about leaving a particular transport alone).

In consequence, several hundred Commonwealth POW lost their lives during or shortly after the end of Operation CRUSADER and the counter-offensive in three separate sinkings. The casualty figures were high because of overcrowding on the vessels.

HMS Porpoise in harbour, from Ebay.

The loss of Venier

At 1435 hours on 9 December 1941, the large mine-laying submarine HM S/M Porpoise (Lt.Cdr. Pizey DSC) attacked Sebastiano Venier, ex-Jason, off Cape Methone. She is so badly damaged she has to be beached and is written off. Around 300 of the 2,000 Commonwealth POW estimated to be on board died in the attack, most of them when the torpedo struck the forward hold of the Venier.

Entry in Log of HMSub Porpoise describing the attack on Sebastiano Venier

The fact that Venier had POWs on board was known in London since at least 1100 GMT on 8 December, the day before, and probably earlier than that. The document below is a compilation of intercepts that was passed on to Downing Street. This would indicate that there would have been some time to alert submarines to not attack merchants moving north, albeit of course with the risk that this would lead to compromising the secrecy around the radio interception. Furthermore, a later intercept indicated that Venier would only leave Benghazi at 1600 on 9 December, a time at which she was well aground off Cape Methone.

Nevertheless, it is clear that in other circumstances, the Middle East command did play fast and loose with the protection of this secret (see this older post).

The incident is well described in the New Zealand Official History ‘Prisoners of War’:

On 8 December a large draft of 2100 had left on the Jantzen , an 8000-ton cargo vessel, with rations sufficient for the 36-hour dash across to Italy . In the middle of the next afternoon, just off Cape Methoni, near Pilos on the south-west coast of the Greek Peloponnese, she was struck by a torpedo in one of the forward holds. Five hundred or more of the prisoners packed there were killed, and the hatchboards falling in with men lying on them killed others as they crashed below. As soon as they had recovered from the shock of the explosion, men rushed to the decks up ropes or still usable ladders. The rugged coastline of Greece could be seen a mile or two away with heavy seas breaking on it, lashed by a bitterly cold wind.

The Italian captain and crew had taken themselves off in two of the three lifeboats, the other having capsized in launching, and some of the men jumped overboard in an attempt to swim to the shore. Nine New Zealanders reached one of the boats, which eventually made a nearby uninhabited island where they spent the night, and they were taken over to the mainland next day. Fifteen got away on a raft they had managed to launch, but more than half of these died of exposure. Meanwhile a German naval engineer had taken control of the ship, explaining to those on board that the engines would still go and that there was a good chance of reaching safety. He ordered everybody aft in order to keep the weight off the damaged bow and organised rescue parties to bring up to the officers’ quarters the injured from the lower decks. Although the wind and sea were still strong, the ship was brought in stern first and beached about 5 p.m. broadside on to an open piece of coast. In spite of the bitter cold many now swam the remaining fifty yards to the shore, and when darkness fell many others made their way to safety along ropes secured to the rocks.

Next day dawned fine, and those still on board came off in the remaining lifeboat or on stretchers slung to the ropes. A check made later showed that a little over two-thirds of the British prisoners had survived, the remainder (including 44 New Zealanders) having perished either in the explosion or in the events which followed.

On 14 February 1942 the brand-new HM S/M P.38 (Lt. Hemingway) attacked a small convoy consisting of Italian steamer Ariosto, German Atlas, and escorts CtPremuda(ex-Yugoslav Dubrovnik) and Tp Polluce. Ariosto was sunk, hit by two torpedoes, and going down after a few hours in the early hours of 15 February, with 138 Commonwealth POW are lost, almost half the contingent.

On 27 February 1942 the most famous of the Malta submarines, HM S/M Upholder (Lt.Cdr. Wanklyn, VC) sinks the old steamer SS Tembien, launched in 1914. 390 out of 468 Commonwealth POW on board died, together with 68 Italians and 10 Germans.

In total therefore, over 800 POW are killed in these attacks, or around 10% of the number of POW taken during CRUSADER and the counter-offensive.

All three submarines undertaking the attack were to be lost with all hands during the war. HM S/M Porpoise was to become the last Royal Navy sub to be sunk by the enemy in the Malacca Straits in 1945. HM S/M P.38 was lost on 23 February on the patrol after she sank Ariosto in a counter-attack by Tp Circe. HM S/M Upholder was sunk on 14 April 1942, possibly by Tp Pegaso, or she may have run on a mine.

It is of note that Tp Circe, a Spica-class escort destroyer, was already fitted with German S-Geraet active sonar and depth charges (see this older post). She was on a roll in February 1942, sinking HM S/SM Tempest on 13 February, and HM S/M P.38 on 23 February (misidentified as a ‘Unity-class’, presumably U-class), showing quite well the capability of the new equipment. I have reports by the captain of Circe and a member of the German sonar crew, which I have posted at this link.

Many thanks go to Brian Sims who has researched this topic exhaustively, and to Barb Edy, whose father Don of No. 33 Squadron RAF was on the Ariosto as a POW, and suvrived the sinking. An account of her sinking by Don can be found in Don’s book ‘Goon in the Block’, which I would highly recommend.

Captain G B H Fawkes with Commander (S) E F Pizey, DSC, RN. IWM16004 – Picture is part of a series showing the men and boats of the Submarine Flotilla in Algiers, February 1943, during their operations against Axis supply traffic to Tunisia.

Post navigation

23 thoughts on “The tragedy of the POWs killed at sea”

The loss of Tembien is the best documented by Ultra.
All her sailing details and the fact she was carrying P.O.W. was known at 13:10hrs on the 25th.
Although the number was wrongly transmitted as 5,000.

ZTPI/6875 of 19:27hrs/28th states Tembien was hit with 2 Torpedoes and sank immediately.
She had onboard 137 Italians of whom 69 were saved and included the C

ZTPI/6689 of 13:10hrs 25/2/42 gives the course,speed and timings at different points en-route. Although this signal eroneously gives the No. of P.O.W. as 5,000 this was corrected in ZTPI/6875.
This signal also states that of 137 Italians onboard 69 were saved and included the Captain and Purser. Of the 20 Germans 10 were saved.
Of the 468 P.O.W. aboard only 78 were saved. The search was hindered by Heavy Seas and a strong Ghibli Wind.

This link, based on Santoni, indicates that at least some of the attacks happened because ULTRA indicated that the hospital ships were used for supply runs (although I guess if those were medical supplies, it would have been alright, legally, and in any case, the volumes we talk about are tiny):

As far as I know, the sinkings of the “Po” and “California” were “justified” because, due to the obscuration rules, they were moored with their lights turned off, so they were not recognizable (both were sunk during nocturnal raids). The sinkings of the “San Giusto” and “Tevere” were nobody’s fault, they were sunk on mines and mines do not make distinction between friends, enemies, allies and protected ships. For the “Città di Trapani” there is uncertainty because one source I have found say she struck a mine (so, same case as “Tevere” and “San Giusto”), another that she was torpedoed by the HMS Unrivalled. Uncertain also the case of the “Sicilia”, she was bombed and sunk in Naples harbor when recognizable (it was day), but that happened during an indiscriminate bombing on Naples, so the bomb were probably just dropped over the harbour and hit the ship. No hospital ship named “Rombo N” ever existed: somebody has misread and copied the name of the “RAMB IV”. The “RAMB IV”, and the “Laurana”, were not damaged, but captured by British ships (and this, too, goes against Geneva conventions). These latter two episodes, together with the sinking of the “Arno” and the damaging of the “Principessa Giovanna” (bombed with 54 killed and 52 wounded while carrying 800 wounded), “Virgilio” (twice attacked while loading wounded, in Tripoli in 1941 and in Tunisi in 1943, while in full daylight) and some others are not this justifiable. I too have read about Ultra reports about hospital ships carrying a few tons of medical equipment, but in the book “Le navi ospedale italiane 1935-1945” it is said that this (carrying a few medical supplies) is allowed by the Geneve Convention.

(However, what has all this to do with a post about British prisoners killed on Italian ships?)

Thank you to Brian Sims for information regarding British policy on marking or not of POW ships (on Ahoy website). I am reading the Balestracci book on the sinking of the Andorra Star on 2 July 1940 off Ireland while carrying foreign civilian (mostly Italian) internees being deported to Canada.

Hello, in the book “La guerra italiana sul mare” by Giorgio Giorgerini I found the number of prisoners who died on the Tembien as 419 out of 498, instead of 390. The POWs who died on the Venier were precisely 309, out of ca. 2100, plus eleven Italians (some were killed by the explosion of the torpedoes, but others were killed by the ship’s running propeller, which had come out of the water, when they jumpet into the sea, others simply threw themselves overboard and drowned). The Ariosto was carrying 294 POWs, 138 of whom died, and 116 Italians, 20 of whom died. They were not the only cases: on 27 August 1942 the motor vessel Nino Bixio was torpedoed and damaged by the HMS Turbulent and 336 prisoners (out of around 3,000), along with 98 Italians, were killed. (Around one hundred of them jumped overboard, were not found by rescue ships and drifted on four floats for more than a week until only four were left alive, and one died after being rescued). On 13 october 1942 the small and old steamer Loreto, carrying 400 prisoners (many from India), was torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Unruffled just off the Sicilian coast and 123 prisoners were killed. On 14 november 1942 the steamer Scillin, with 814 prisoners on board, was gunned, torpedoed and sunk by the HMS Sahib and 787 prisoners were killed, while only 27, together with 46 Italian crew, were saved.

Hi Lorenzo
My Step Grandfather was on the Nino Bixio and ended up in the water after the ship was hit by torpedo’s and i’m trying to get a POW on board record or any information about the POW’s that ended up in the water.
Where did you find this information about the Nino Bixio?

“They were not the only cases: on 27 August 1942 the motor vessel Nino Bixio was torpedoed and damaged by the HMS Turbulent and 336 prisoners (out of around 3,000), along with 98 Italians, were killed. (Around one hundred of them jumped overboard, were not found by rescue ships and drifted on four floats for more than a week until only four were left alive, and one died after being rescued).”

Hello Ty, do you mean the part about the survivors who were not found for two weeks? It is told in the book “Convogli” by Captain Aldo Cocchia, who was the escort leader of the Bixio convoy, and whose ship (destroyer Nicoloso Da Recco) was also one of the two that casually found, two weeks later, the rafts with the four survivors. If you want I can send you the full account (in Italian), but I would need a e-mail address. Notice, more POWs jumped overboard, but the majority were picked up by ships sent to their rescue during the following hours; this group somehow was not noticed.

Hi Lorenzo
my email is tyspncr@yahoo.com.au
My Step grandfather told his son that he was in the water for a long time after the ship was hit but his memory of it all is poor due to many reasons. He recalls the date he left the Patras hospital in greece after the incident and was sent to another hospital in Italy on the 27th of August 1942 which is ten days after the attack. He later ends up at camps 57 and 106/1.
I know he was on a ship on the 17th of august and that the ship was hit but I can’t find his name on any of the lists. Due to his last name being Park, he should of been on the Nino Bixio due to the alphabetical system. Out of all the information I’ve read this is the first time someone else has the same story as what happened to him.
When he eventually returned to Australia 1945 he would never go near the ocean or rivers as he was petrified of it. His children never learnt to swim because over his fear for water.

Your mention of the Loreto’s sinking on 13-Oct-1942 touches a personal chord.

My father was in the British Indian Army and was taken POW near El-Daba airfield (DLG) on 29-June-1942. Subsequently, while being transferred to Italy aboard a POW troop ship, the ship was torpedoed by a British Submarine on, as per his recollection, on 10-Oct-29142. He survived the incident and was picked later that evening by Italian patrol boats and taken to St. Helena.

He has written a book on his life and I was trying to corroborate this incident. I have some initial research but could not find anything till I read your account of the Loreto, which leads me to think my father may have been mistaken about the date (his memoirs were written in the when was past 80 years old).

About the Project

The aim of this blog is to accompany the preparation of a complete history incorporating the Axis and Commonwealth perspectives of the Winterschlacht (Winter Battle) in North Africa, November 1941 to February 1942. The battle was known as "Operation Crusader" to the British, the 2nd (British) Offensive to the Italians, and as the 'Winterschlacht' (winter battle) to the Germans. The start date is universally agreed to be 17 November 1941, while the end date is 15 January for the British (thus excluding the Axis counter-offensive of late January), while it is 6 February for the Axis, including the counteroffensive.